BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Consumers risk losing out in a planned
free-trade deal between Europe and the United States if big
business succeeds in loosening standards, European consumer and
environmental groups warned on Tuesday.

U.S. and European Union negotiators are holding a second
round of talks in Brussels this week on what would be the
world's biggest free-trade deal, with a special focus on
reducing regulatory barriers to trade.

Monique Goyens, director general of the European consumer
organization BEUC, acknowledged that a trade agreement could
lower prices and give consumers more choice.

"But all the benefits could be undermined by the risks of
watering down European consumer regulation," she said.

BEUC, Friends of the Earth and the European Public Health
Alliance told a joint news conference they were concerned that
mutual recognition of regulations, designed to cut costs, would
in fact result in the adoption of the lowest standards.

"It's difficult to see how you can have mutual recognition
unless it's a race-to-the-bottom approach," said Friends of the
Earth Europe director Magda Stoczkiewicz.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht has repeatedly said EU
regulation on genetically modified (GM) food will not changed,
but the United States considers this a trade barrier that must
be reduced.

Consumers groups fear a deal will lead to more GM crops used
in products sold in Europe, where there is widespread public
distrust of the technology, with looser labelling rules
preventing consumers from making informed choices.

The European Union has already dropped its ban on certain
U.S. meat imports such as beef washed in lactic acid and poultry
washed in chlorine. The United States is set to reopening its
market closed to EU beef since 1998 over the mad cow scare.

The European associations said their comments were not
designed as an attack on U.S. standards, but European consumers
were broadly protected by a requirement that corporations prove
their toys, chemicals and other products do not cause harm.

The U.S. approach is more to allow consumers to obtain
damages for actual harm, they said.

U.S. consumers could also suffer if current tough
regulations on medical devices, financial services or alcohol
were watered down, they said.

Among the European associations' greatest concerns is a
provision in the future trade deal that would allow foreign
companies to bring claims against a country if it breaches the
treaty. This, they said, would limit a country's right to pass
laws to protect its citizens or the environment.